Brussels Part 1: Days 10-11

Day 10

Wednesday, June 26

We left for Brussels early in the morning from our hotel in London.  We had a little UCLA moment when word spread that during the night the UCLA Baseball team had won their first National Championship, adding Number 109 to the Bruin collection.  U-C-L-A Fight Fight Fight!  Then we all boarded a bus outside the hotel and drove to Dover, a port city in Britain.  The White Cliffs of Dover are known in this small port city. 

After we passed through immigration in Dover, we boarded a ferry to Calais, which is in France.  Upon arriving in Calais, we got on another bus and drove into Brussels. 

It was a long day of traveling and we were all tired and hungry when we got to Brussels.  After dinner though, we did get our first Belgian waffles at the Haagen-Dazs up the street.  This would be the first of many.  Also, we discovered that Bradley Cooper is the spokesperson for Haagen-Dazs here...there are giant billboards of his face staring at you when you're trying to eat your waffle and ice cream.

Day 11

Thursday, June 27

For our first full day in Belgium, we made a trip to the city of Bruges or Brugges.  Brugges was at one time the economic center of Western Europe and financed the Norman Conquest of England.  I know, super exciting stuff.

They have your normal horse and carriage rides going on all over the place, you know the usual.

I am in love with the tops of the buildings here.

First, we took a canal boat tour through Brugges.  The whole city is built around an extensive canal system that basically goes everywhere.

There are houses literally right along the canal, wish I could live there.

This is Neil.  He is the official dog of Brugges.  Sounds like a pretty good gig to me.

The danger of selfies: you cover up the thing you're trying to take a picture of with your face.

 Better.

The tour was given in multiple languages, including French, Dutch and English.  The tour guides all know a variety of languages and just rattle off commentary in each language, one after another.  They're pretty talented guys.

Then we stopped into the chocolate shops.  In Belgium, and especially in Brugges, chocolate is everywhere.

They have tins shaped like my favorite houses!

Brugges is also known for their handmade lace.  There are little lace shops like this all over the city.  All the lace is beautiful and well-made.

Then we continued to just wander around the streets of Brugges.  It's a pretty tourist-y town, but the streets and buildings are enough to make you want to wander down them all day.

Chocolate Waffles. They're everywhere.

A famous sight in Brugges is the Church of our Lady.

 This church houses the Madonna with child, an original Michelangelo sculpture.  This is one of the very few Michelangelo sculptures to have made it out of Italy and it is on display in Brugges.

After coming back from Brugges in an eventful bus ride (we almost left one kid behind and our resident athletes had to run a quarter mile back to Brugges to go get him), we had a lovely dinner with our professor!  We had dinner with our Professor Mike Lofchie and his lovely wife Kelly.  It was a great night of story swapping and hanging out with our professor!

After dinner, we went and explored Brussels!  There is a square called the Grand Place, which is my favorite place in Brussels.  It is so beautiful, especially when lit up at night.  This is basically where all the restaurants, shops and basically where main center of Brussels is.  

Here's what the whole square looks like:

We had a late night exploring the city and came back in the rain!  Brussels was rather drizzly for our time there.